Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1887-05-05
THE GROWTH OF KANSAS.
Hutchinson News.

| hutchinson News
Kansas was wonderfully advertised
during the civil war She sent more men
into the army in proportion to her popu-
latiOn than any other state in the Union.
For years before, the struggles on her soil
| against the encrOachments of the slave
| power attracted the attention and COM
manded the respect of the people of the
| nation. During the war Kansas men
| were everywhere welcomed as the sons
of Liberty baptized in blood, and every
| where they did honor to the mother On
| every battlefield some Kansas man was
found and beside every campfire he sat
and told wonderful stories of the rich
ness of soil, the mildness of climate and
beauty of the landscape of the land he
loved
When the cruel war was over the Kan
sas boy returned to his prairie home and
settled down contentedly to business.
Not so his army friend in the East. As
they parted the last words he heard were,
Come to Kansas" He returned to his
old home, and after the first few days of
rejoicing were over a feeling of unrest
came over him. He found himself I'M
willing to settle down to the old hum
drum life and hard drudgery of slowgoing
East and his thoughts turned to the land
of promise toward the setting sum-
The tide of emigration was slow at
first, but those who came sent back for
their friends and gradually it increased in
volume until it became mighty rushing
flood. A study of the census returns for
fifteen years, from 1865 to 1880, reveals a
growth that is almost Incredible
In 1865 the population Of Kansas was 14o,o79
1870 " 364,3
4" 1875 I" 6 6 I" 52S $40
But wonderful as this growth was it
has been exceeded since. In six years,
from 1880 to 1886 inclusive, our popula-
ton has increased to 1900, 900, in round
numbers, an increase of more than fifty
per cent, and nearly half Of this occur
red last year. The average increase per
year from 1865 to 1885 as 1877 but in
1886 the increase was 100000, or nearly
five times the average for the twenty pre-
vious years.
Is it any wonder that the price of real
estate began to mount toward the skies?
The impulse of last year was sufficient to
send it spinning up, but information re-
ceived from all sources has led to the be-
lief that the increase Of this year will be
vastly in excess of that of last year. and
the immense travel in this direction that
has already begun, is evidence sufficient
that the belief is wellsfounded From
800, 900 to 400, 900 people will be added to
the population of Kansas this year.
What is the cause of this great influx
There is great unrest in the East. La
borers have became dissatisfied with un
remunerative occupations, farmers have
become tired Of the hard toll in wrestling
a poor living from the unwilling soil, and
capitalists have grown suspicious of spec
ulation, and, unwilling to place their
money where it will bring only from to
4 per cent These are some of the causes
for loosening of the ties there The rea-
son why so large share Of them are COM
ing here, is because here they find lands
as cheap and as productive as anywhere,
and climate that is superior to any
other this side of the Rocky Mountains.
There is no prospect that this unrest
will decrease, but rather it will become
more pronounced, and therefore we need
expect no great decrease in the number
of those who will come to US, unless some
great calamity should fall upon US, such
as long continued drouth, or failure of
crops for a succession of years.